


Loveless

by mothicalcreatures (laelreenia)



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Angst, Grief/Mourning, Loveless - Freeform, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-22
Updated: 2018-01-22
Packaged: 2019-03-08 06:24:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13452396
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/laelreenia/pseuds/mothicalcreatures
Summary: Sephiroth finds an old copy of Loveless that Genesis left behind.





	Loveless

**Author's Note:**

> From the prompt:  
> [What is the first thought that comes into your character’s mind when they see a book that has sustained severe reading damage? (Reading damage would be things like worn text, broken spines, small tears, bent pages, and the like.)](http://characterdevelopmentforwriters.tumblr.com/post/170006049700/what-is-the-first-thought-that-comes-into-your)

The book had been sitting in the SOLDIER common room for weeks now when Sephiroth finally got sick of looking at the beat up old thing out of the corner of his eye and picked it up, fully intent on throwing it away, and froze. The front cover was gone and the title page was missing too, but Sephiroth knew exactly what book it was. It was Genesis’s original utterly destroyed copy of _Loveless._ It had been the first copy of the book he’d gotten, if Sephiroth was remembering correctly. It had been Genesis’s favorite copy to curl up and read whenever he was at home. It didn’t usually ever leave his private quarters. It certainly wasn’t the newer ornate copy he carried around for dramatic effect, Sephiroth had gotten him that one, no this had been the copy of _Loveless_ that had more or less been Genesis’s equivalent of a security blanket.

Ever so carefully Sephiroth leafed through the yellowed, scribbled on, and occasionally water damaged pages, which Sephiroth knew came from times Genesis had been reading it in the bathtub. He paused as he reached a page in which a note had been tucked. Sephiroth almost left it where it was and closed the book, but then he noticed that his name was scrawled on it in Genesis’s hand writing, so he plucked it out.

His chest felt tight and not wanting one of the Seconds or Thirds to witness him having a moment of weakness he returned to his quarters before sitting down, alone, to open the note.

 

_Dear Sephiroth,_

_I know it will probably take a while for you to pick this up, since you will assume that the person who would leave a book lying around must simply have forgotten it and will be coming back to pick it up. However, since I’ve left Shinra, I won’t be back to pick it up like I normally would. The point to all this is that I want you to have this book, I know that Shinra will likely be clearing out my quarters and much of what I had will end up thrown away. I don’t want that to happen to this book. I’m sure you can guess why my first ever copy of Loveless is so important to me, and it won’t be safe if I take it with me, so I’m entrusting it to you. I’m not expecting you to read it, just take care of it._

_Love,_

_Genesis_

 

Sephiroth sat staring at the note, unsure of what to do with it, when a tear splashed down on to the page. Sephiroth immediately sat back and wiped at his eyes so it wouldn’t happen again and refolded the letter and tucked it back into the book. Sephiroth had never really read much, not novels or plays at any rate. Tactical books, sure, but leisure reading in the way Genesis did had never been something that Sephiroth had found a useful way to spend his time. Now it did. At least, reading _Loveless_ did. He missed Genesis something fierce and if reading this old battered copy of _Loveless_ and the notes Genesis had left scratched in the margins did anything to alleviate the pain of that, it was worth trying.


End file.
